Imagine, if you will, one older mailbox.Serviceable. Intact. A Little Small for Magazines.No excuse to replace it.But I'd rather be greeted back hometo MY home.

On Christmas day, courtesy of our Bear,we received 3 wonderful magazine subscriptions.{pretty exciting. It's been years.}They just started arriving last month.I did not like that they were folded in half and crammed into this box.Now I had another challenge.So, I asked Evan to help me imagine a simple, thrifty solution.

Inspired by Zuda's handmade boxes,I was going to construct a cardboard holder.Easier said than done.Not being as gifted as her,this plan remained in themulling stages for a few weeks.

Destiny is a Happy Mystery

Then I misplaced my sunglasses.When I went back to a thrift store to see if I'd left themon their counter, I came away empty handed.But as I was walking outI spied this wire basket for .99.I was thrilled.A plan was forming.

Life is like a box of chocolates

A few days later, we walked to the new Walgreensto buy one of Evan's birthday presents.

On the way home, we stopped by another thrift store where I spiedthis discarded & unlikely to find a home{it was filled with crayon art}perfect~for~my~recycled~artvintage Little Golden Book for 25 cents.I love cars, tucks, trains, planes & the 1950s era illustrations.I did not connect the serendipity offinding this book withits use for my simmering project.

The trimmed piece

A few days later, I was de-cluttering my growing stash.I flipped through this book and found this fabulous page.Just the right size, too.

And can you believe the text?

My stamp collection

I decided to dress up the Magazine Rack Label Spacewith a stamp ~ mail collage ona coordinating piece of the samesafety envelope I used to frame themailbox illustration.

A True Mail Collage

Here it is before I laminated it.It is setting on the reverse of themailbox piece.

I had only one TeXaS stamp.

Love it.

My Personalized Mail Center

I laminated both pieces and attached themusing simple rolled scotch tape.Both the mailbox art and themagazine rack can follow uswherever we goleaving no damage behind.What will I do with them next?We shall see.

ox joon

ps. My mailman told me this just gave him the biggest smile.Putting a little bit of yourself out into the worldcan make more of a differencethan you might think.

4.17.2009

I found this wonderful Charles Prendergast quality print poster for $1 and have been transporting it and beautifying our prospective temporary homes for quite a few years. It's been through the packing and unpacking process and gained a bit of character but I saw someJoseph's Little Overcoat of life still in itwhen I was faced with this decorating challenge...

EEGADS!

This fuse box adorns a wall in our bedroom. That's a new one on me. And, as most of you know,I've lived in 30something+ residences now. Try as we might, we just couldn't seem to match upa proper artful disguise for this eyesore.

Idea

One day, I pulled out the poster.It was exactly the proper height,but since the fuse box did not offer a flat wall surfacewe needed to add cardboard and a hanging device.We did that, but it just wasn't sturdy enoughto maintain a steadfast cover.Thinking cap once again...

First, I attached the velcro squares, both halves of each,to the fuse box corners. Next, I peeled away the protective piecesand centered the art work over the fuse box,pressed and viola!

I am a Happy Woman

I now have two perfectly sized scenes to interchange at willand one smaller one for another use.Evan has had the unfortunate need to access the fuse boxone morning at 4 AM.The lone cheery aspect of which, he reported at coffee time,was his joy at how perfectly easy it was to remove and reattachmy ingenius box cover.So there you have it.$1 has never been better spent ~ even for me!

I hope this idea has helped you with one of your decor dilemmas.Please comment, if so.Leave me a link.I'd love to see what you've done.

ox joon

ps. I've provided a link to a Charles Prendergast biography entry for those of you who might like to read more about him. He seems to need a WIKI entry.His more renowned brother, Maurice, has one.What's up with that?

4.10.2009

This has been a busy week. Today we went to a garden shop with donkeys. St. Francesca's donkey charm magic worked.

Scout with her new friend.So sweet.

Earlier in the week,I tried this no knead bread recipe from theDallas Junior League Cookbook.I found the cookbook at recycled reads.It was just $2.It's lovely.

And so is this bread.We were thrilled with the results.Don't you love it when you find something newand it lends a satisfying end?

We made B.L.T.s for dinner andfroze the second loaf.Now we have that to look forward toone night this coming week.I also tried an amazing pasta saucemade with fresh basil, parsleyand blue cheese, cream cheese, butterand olive oil. It was a hit.